Jay Rothe Sr., 66, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

Riley’s family lined the front row of the courtroom, holding each other as they heard Riley’s voice on the emergency call.

The family spoke about Riley’s love for her family, her sense of humor and her love of animals.

That’s one of the things that doesn’t sit right with them from Rothe’s story.

He says Riley hurt one of his cats. He overreacted and hit Riley, causing her to fall and hit a piece of furniture, Rothe said in the sentencing hearing. That’s how she died, he insisted.

But her family doesn’t believe a word of that. She was an animal lover who would never hurt a cat.

It was Riley’s two dogs that alerted neighbors that she was missing.

Friends called police when they noticed her dogs hadn’t been outside.

A week later, and after multiple police interviews denying any knowledge of Riley’s whereabouts, Rothe took authorities to the place where he fished while he burned Riley’s body nearby.

Her family said there were so few remains that there was nothing to bury. The crime lab needed everything found at the crime scene.

Authorities don’t know for sure how Riley died. All that remained of her body were ashes and some bone fragments.

Prosecutors argued that Rothe took no responsibility for the crime, or past crimes. He was convicted of having sex 10 or more times with a 14-year old stepdaughter in another state.

He told authorities the girl was curious and he finally just “gave in.”

It was when prosecutors were describing Rothe’s actions surrounding the murder and how he blamed Riley for her own demise that Rothe interrupted, shouting out that prosecutors were lying and that the whole thing was an accident.

After several minutes of outbursts, Rothe quieted when Judge Thomas Mountjoy promised Rothe would have time to tell his side of the story.

When he was allowed to speak, Rothe said he accidentally killed Riley but that he regretted that it happened. He said he was taking responsibility.

“I miss her,” Rothe said. “I’m sorry she’s not here for her family. I miss her. It was my fault.”

After both sides presented arguments, Mountjoy said there was only one appropriate sentence: life in prison. He said Rothe showed his true nature when he burned Riley’s body. “What you did to her speaks to how you felt about her,” Mountjoy said.

State law allows for a parole opportunity when a convicted person reaches 70 years old, as long as that person has served 40 percent of his or her sentence.

Because he was given a life sentence, which equates to 30 years in Missouri, Rothe will have to serve at least 12 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole.